


Fair-Weather Friends

by hexereii



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: (Supervillians and their Old Friends From School), Acts of Kindness, Domestic, Gen, Injury Recovery, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21789247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexereii/pseuds/hexereii
Summary: In which Olivia survives the fight at Alchemax and finds herself the unexpected guest of an old friend--what does friendship really mean to a former(?) supervillian, anyway?Also, tea and lemon bars.
Relationships: Olivia Octavius & May Parker (Spider-Man)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Fair-Weather Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nope/gifts).



_**"Oh great, it's Liv."**_

_Liv_. Her old friend--for lack of a better term--crashing through the front door in a skin-tight suit, synthetic tentacles poised to attack, smiling with an eerie serenity before thoroughly wrecking the house and attempting multiple murders.

She couldn't even claim it was the first time she'd seen her in action, though admittedly, never in such close quarters.

Still, May had known for years that there was something broken under that quick, scattered, brilliant surface. Shattered pieces were eye-catching too; she understood that. And no number of pleasant lunch dates or evenings spent reminiscing about their younger days could hide what she _was,_ not truly--even before the grand reveal and the odd outfit and the robotic appendages. Not from a woman as perceptive as May had long since become.

Even before Ben's death, before her stubborn refusal to let Peter keep his secrets, she'd made it her business to know things--learning about technology and chemistry and engineering as she went, and folding those skills effortlessly in with all the rest. There was a lot to be said for picking up new skills, after all; they kept the mind fresh and the hands nimble.

Holding the shawl tightly in both hands, she frowned at the bedroom door, blue eyes hardening.

She'd knitted it herself, years ago. In the lonely months after her husband's death, while she was still deciding what to do next, what to become, and that careless, soft mixture of colors had never been intended for anyone, really (though purely by accident, they recreated an ensemble Liv had worn once, albeit in muted tones; as if she could soften those brittle edges with careful knots, bind them into order) ...now, it would comfort a sick friend. What better use could any made thing be put to?

Graying hair was shaken out briskly, a fortifying breath drawn before she turned the knob and opened the door.

It wasn't fully dark inside, but the dim light was hardly reassuring.

A willowy figure sat upright against the pillows in silent, wide-eyed vigilance; whatever had happened to her at Alchemax that night had parted Liv from her extraneous limbs and left her... changed. Subdued, for the most part, but certainly not well by any measure. She'd dragged herself clear before the final explosion and into the woods nearby--May had found her there in a tangle of broken tech and helped her to her feet again, though she wasn't sure entirely why.

It just seemed like the right thing to do.

She wasn't a prisoner, that much was obvious to the both of them, but until she recovered enough for either of them to decide what else to do, this was the only place that no one would ever think to look for her. And people _would_ be looking. With everything that this woman knew, there was no safety for her now.

"Liv? I thought you might be cold, down here--these old bricks always carry a chill..."

Was this what her life had come to, then? Harboring a wanted criminal--a mad scientist, an honest-to-goodness supervillain--in the basement apartment she'd intended once to rent out? Evidently, it was. Funny sometimes, how things turned out.

"I've made tea and lemon bars, if you have any appetite."

Liv looked up at that--she'd always been a fan of those lemon bars.

Some part of her remembered, at least, and May felt a flash of hope.

"I'll get a tray, we can share--if you'd like." In the pause, she could hear Liv's slow, erratic breaths. 

Olivia's murky green-brown studied her carefully.

"I think I'd like that," she said quietly.

Nodding once, May handed her the shawl and tried not to smile.

"Alright. I'll fetch the tea, maybe we can watch a movie..." In part, she just liked the company. In part, May was simply... lonely, now that Peter was gone, and Ben, and all the rest. Really, who remained except for the two of them, just now? And they really were friends, after a fashion.

"Yes. Something funny," Liv suggested. "Something... light."

Pausing in the doorway, May Parker nodded back at her. "I think that can be arranged," she said, finally letting the smile show.

Maybe she was fooling herself; maybe the woman would kill her in her sleep some night, maybe there was no chance of recovery or redemption and nothing left to save, but... hadn't she always told Peter that people like this, people who seemed to have the least chance, weren't they the ones most in need of saving? She had to hope.

Behind the closed door, Olivia pulled the soft, knitted fabric around her shoulders and let her head lower. Everything ached; every muscle and bone and particle. But rolling the yarn against her fingertips made for a pleasant distraction, at least.

The second she left this house, her former employer would kill her. Him, or a hit squad from the lab's private department; Wilson Fisk wasn't the man behind the curtain, she'd always known that. And there was always S.H.I.E.L.D to worry about, or the FBI, though they were far less of a concern. Either way, her life ways effectively over. There was no getting around that.

She would have to plan carefully and move slowly, that was all. Remain hidden until she was strong enough to do anything else. Parker had a lab somewhere, he must have--and May probably knew where it was. That might be an opening. If she could get out of here and... er... 'arm' herself again...

But the thought of that betrayal made her oddly uncomfortable, just now. She was risking so much just to rehabilitate her, for no reason that Olivia could discern--she was being so kind, even after everything that she must know Liv had done, it made no sense, really. Not that she'd ever fully understood May Parker; her intelligence wasted on a man who couldn't possibly deserve her, a suburban life that must have been cloying and suffocating in the extreme...

Still. She couldn't pay her back for all of this by just up and leaving without so much as word of explanation, and she couldn't really justify hurting May to get the location of Peter's lab out of her, so... what, then?

For now, the answer was simple: rest and recover and enjoy the company, find some other plan, something that wouldn't put her only friend at risk.

And maybe pick a movie.


End file.
